Page 26 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

Support for splitting the bill was
mixed, even in farm country.
Farmers would take one look at a
chart showing that the nutrition
programs consumed about 80
percent of farm bill spending and
assumed that they would be better
off passing a much lower cost
“farm only” bill.

What they failed to look at was a
map of House congressional
districts, showing that only 34
were truly dependent on farming.
– not nearly enough to support the
218 votes needed to pass a farm
bill on the House floor. The
political “math” required the farm and food portions to pass together.
House floor action on the farm bill started June 19.

According to Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, Ag Chairman Lucas acted like a “maestro” in trying to
orchestrate a new farm bill over two days with dozens of opportunities for amendments. But the
Oklahoma Republican could not persuade enough lawmakers to play the same tune. In the end,
234 representatives voted “no,” including 62 from his own party.

Shortly before the measure failed by a 195-234 vote, Lucas made a final plea for passage,
urging the House to vote “yes” and avoid the label of “a dysfunctional body … full of
dysfunctional people.” But hopes for bipartisanship were largely dashed, with only 24
Democrats voting for the bill.

Lucas won support from top GOP leaders, including Boehner; Majority Leader Cantor, R-Va.;
and Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

However, the bill – which would have cut food stamps by $20.5 billion over the next 10 years –
just didn’t cut enough out of farm and nutrition programs for lawmakers aligned with the Tea
Party, including Huelskamp and Stutzman, as well as Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; Paul Broun,
R-Ga.; and Steve Stockman, R-Texas.

They all voted “no” on final passage, which meant these “reformers” basically got nothing in
terms of reforms. Without passage of a new farm bill, there would be zero cuts in food stamps,
and direct payments would continue.

So what would it take to persuade those 62 Republican lawmakers to vote for passage of
the farm bill? In some cases, the perfect seemed to be the enemy of the good.

Prior to the final votes, Huelskamp told Agri-Pulse he might vote for the farm bill if the House
approved his one amendment to require SNAP beneficiaries to work and to cut the program by

24 www.Agri-Pulse.com